上梁不正下梁歪

lit. If the upper beam is not straight, the lower beam will be crooked (idiom); fig. subordinates imitate their superiors' vices

Characters and words in 上梁不正下梁歪

used in 上聲|上声[shang3 sheng1]
(bound form) up; upper; above; previous / first (of multiple parts) / to climb; to get onto; to go up / to attend (class or university) / (directional complement) up / (noun suffix) on; above

= + : Sherlock Holmes (sh) investigates a mysterious murder in the anglepod's bathroom (ang4). Somebody has been killed while using the golden squat toilet. He finds a mysterious apparatus on top (上) of it, and breaks it open using a dinosaur bone (丨). As the apparatus breaks, he finds the murderer's weapon: The dinosaur bone is sticking in a capacitor (二), which has been hooked up to the golden squat toilet to kill the victim using the lethal electric charge.

= + : Mnemonic symbol: as in the movie "Up", someone will be using lots of balloons to send something on a long journey. Sherlock Holmes (sh) prepares to take off in the anglepod's bathroom (ang4). He fixed a lot of balloons (上) to a flute (一), on which he plans to sit during his journey. At this moment the flute is only held back by the 90 degree corner clamp (丄) which is fixing it to the ground.
to lay an upper beam / (a building's) upper beam / (a bicycle's) top tube
Liang Dynasty (502-557) / Later Liang Dynasty (907-923) / surname Liang
roof beam / beam (structure) / bridge

= + + + : Li Qingzhao (li) wants to repair the anglepod's kitchen (ang2), specifically, she wants to set up a new beam on the roof (梁). To reach her goal she puts the lower end of a Christmas tree (木) into a broad water bottle (氵) so that it stands steady. She then proceeds to chop off all the branches with a cleaver (刀), so she can obtain the beam. As she lifts the beam onto the walls, she pushes off an eight ball (八), which falls down and crashes the water bottle (氵). Fortunately she won't need the water bottle anymore since she already put up the beam of the new roof (梁).
variant of 梁[liang2]
(negative prefix) / not / no

= + : Bruno Bear (bu) is setting up a wind wheel (丆) with a voodoo staff (卜) in the space station's bathroom (Ø4). He also puts a "forbidden" sign (mnemonic symbol for 不) on it, to make clear that it may not (不) be stopped.
no; not so / (bound form) not; un-
first month of the lunar year
straight / upright / proper / main / principal / to correct / to rectify / exactly / just (at that time) / right (in that place) / (math.) positive

= + : Mnemonic symbol: a stick-figure with straight lines. James II of England (zh) really has to use the engine's bathroom ((e)ng4), but there's a stick-figure (正) blocking the stalls with a barrier (止). The stick-figure measures with a flute (一) whether James is tall enough to go. James stands very straight (正) to make himself as tall as possible.
down / downwards / below / lower / later / next (week etc) / second (of two parts) / to decline / to go down / to arrive at (a decision, conclusion etc) / measure word to show the frequency of an action

= + : Mnemonic symbol: from the up/down logic, and a little bit the shape of the character, a ladder.

Xi Shi (xi) is on a retreat in the ashram. Using a voodoo staff (卜), she divined that next (下) week she'll have to play the flute (一) sixteen hours per day. Because she hates playing the flute, she climbs over the ashram's bathroom (a4) wall using a ladder (下) to escape.
askew / at a crooked angle / devious / noxious / (coll.) to lie on one's side

= + : Willy Walrus (w) and the stick figure (正) have been riding a carousel in front of the airplane (ai1) for too long. As they get off they sway (歪) a lot and aren't able to walk on a straight line anymore. They didn't see that there was a forbidden-sign (歪) hanging on the carousel because it's going way too fast.
to sprain (one's ankle) (Tw)

Words with 上梁不正下梁歪

上梁不正下梁歪 is not used as a component in another word.

Sentences with 上梁不正下梁歪

上梁不正下梁歪 currently does not appear in any sentence.